1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to silica and silicate materials, and specifically to treated silica and metal silicate materials that can provide improved cleaning properties in a dentifrice composition.
2. Technical Background
Conventional dentifrice compositions comprise an abrasive substance to assist in the removal of dental deposits. One such dental deposit is pellicle, a protein film which adheres strongly to tooth surfaces and often contains brown or yellow materials that can result in tooth discoloration. A dentifrice should be sufficiently abrasive to clean the tooth surface, but not so abrasive as to damage the hard tissues of the tooth.
The performance of the dentifrice can thus be highly sensitive to the aggressiveness of the abrasive substance. Synthetic low-structure silica materials have been utilized as abrasive substances due to their effectiveness as abrasives, as well as their low toxicity characteristics and compatibility with other dentifrice components, such as sodium fluoride.
To date, conventional abrasive materials have limitations associated with maximizing cleaning and minimizing dentin abrasion, as well as complexity in terms of manufacturing procedures. Accordingly, there exists a general need to develop new dental abrasives and dentifrices thereof that exhibit high pellicle film cleaning properties and have acceptable dentin abrasion levels. This need and other needs are satisfied by the compositions and methods of the present disclosure.